White Noise (Carnage Revamp)
by Inku-kei
Summary: It would be a simple check-in. Take a train to Liore, ask some questions, take the train back. No more, no less. Edward could never have been more wrong.
1. I - Promise

_"Just make sure you come back alright, okay Ed?"_

_"I'm sure I've seen worse, don't worry about me, Winry."_

_"Promise me then."_

_"Huh?"_

_"Promise me you won't do something stupid, okay? Don't get yourself hurt. Promise me."_

_"I promise."_

* * *

He promised.

He had promised her and he had failed. He wasn't going to come back. He knew it. The basic function of sight was already leaving him, fading and blurring away into the dark. It was dark, so terribly dark. And cold, too. Edward was vaguely aware of something else around him, presences of other living things, and an aura of alchemic taboo so strong it made his very soul tremble.

The act of remaining conscious was becoming a struggle, a seemingly immense inner battlefield that stretched out too unbearably long... but if he let sleep take him, would he ever wake up? The reek of rotten blood clogged his lungs and made it hard to breathe. His insides were churning, head pounding, emptied automail ports constantly pulsing with painful electric spasms as the disconnected synthetic nerves groped in vain for the mechanical system that had once recieved their commands.

Much to Edward's horror, the sweet release of death was becoming something he craved, the longer he remained chained against the cold stone wall, abandoned and alone save for the terribly suffering and dying chimera that shared his prison.

Why did it have to end up this way? Despite himself, he actually felt like laughing. It felt so ironic. He couldn't remember how he'd gotten here, nor where he had been going before having been brought to this hellish place.

But he remembered Winry, and he remembered Alphonse. He remembered how he loved them both so very, very much, and for all of his love the both of them seemed to return tenfold. He remember that he wanted so see them again, and that he missed them sorely. That was something he could remember, and draw strength from, the knowledge that they'd be waiting for him.

Even so, force of will can never completely ebb away the exaustions of the body, so Edward found himself simply lying there, waiting to be horribly distorted and butchered like every other poor entity to have set foot in this place, this sickly experimental place.

Force of will, however, was just enough for Edward to peel his eyes open and look around, likely one of the last times he'd ever see anything, ever. The place was lit by overly bright fluorescent bulbs from the ceiling, casting harsh shadows across everything touched by the sharp glow. It made his eyes sting somewhat, but he still looked on, at the disgustingly clean desks on one side, the sickeningly dirty experimentation area, stained with the dark dried blood and other bodily fluids of this nightmare's victims in contrast.

Then there was a small noise to his left, and Edward whipped his head around to face who or whatever was there with him. He stood to be mildly surprised to see a girl, restrained as he was and huddled desperately in the corner. She was shivering and crying, her clothes were torn and bloodied and her long, dark hair hung in unkepmt chunks from her loosened ponytail. Her olive skin seemed pallor in the terribly artificial lights that pulsed above them.

Inhuman shrieks and screams of pain could be heard from a separate room, only to abruptly stop, sending shudders of horror crawling down Edward's spine. He stiffened, eyes widening as someone entered the room. Several people, whose darkened faces his brain refused to register.

They said things, too. He couldn't hear them over his own screaming as they seized him by his remaining arm and leg, even as he kicked and scratched and struggled with everything he had, something dark and primal inside him screaming about the wrongness of it all, that they couldn't touch him, that they were going to kill him.

And in favor of this dark part of his consciousness, he didn't doubt it's desperate fight-or-flight alarm one bit. With his limbs restrained he did the first thing his instincts demanded and closed his jaws on one of the experimenter's arms. Hot, metallic blood filled his mouth, foreign and sickening as he gagged and kicked, trying to crawl away before they could recover and pick him up again.

Edward had barely made a single body-length away from these cruel people before they picked him up again and resumed as they were.

They were going to kill him, slowly and horribly. He was going to die.

He had failed.

* * *

_A/N: trying this again, but with something new. I'm trying to retain the fact that Edward is supposed to be the protagonist rather than "omg wtf is that."_


	2. II - I Can't Believe We've Made It

There was a gap. It was so big, so much time, lost to blank unconsciousness. So much pain. In his throbbing heart, burning in his veins, exploding in his skull. His vision flickered in and out of darkness and blurred, red haze. Everything, despite the pain and blindness, seemed abnormally sharp.

The smells were stronger, piercing Edwards senses and making him feel even sicker as the reek of blood swelled tenfold with his consciousness. It was in his mouth, too, he could taste it and smell it at the same time, making his stomach churn and throat convulse as he fought the urge to retch.

Despite his efforts, something still expelled itself from his system by way of his mouth, it tasted of sour bile and metallic blood. He wanted to be sick again even though nothing came up. Back on his side of the cage, the dark, cold cage with chains and bars and the girl, still bound as she had been to the wall and desperately afraid.

This time, however, she came closer to him. She reached out, drawing her ruined sweater tighter around her body.

"I know who you are," she murmured, gently rubbing what she could reach of Edward's shaking arm.

He leaned into the contact, crying out as his tendons and ligaments cried unhealthily out against the natural motions. His body convulsed and he retched again.

"We can get out of here, can't we?"

Edward's eyes narrowed as he drew in another painful breath. He clenched his teeth and forced his thick, heavy-feeling tongue to obey his commands as he replied. "I don't... I don't know..." Even the short, disjointed phrase left him heaving for air, body screaming with pain for him to stop and give up and die. "We'll never... know... till... till we t-try... eh?"

The girl in the corner seemed to lighten up a bit. "We can do it together, right?"

Edward nodded blearily, screwing his eyes shut and letting a rattling moan escape him as another jolt of pain rolled over him in a paralyzing wave of agony. What the hell has these people done to him? Why couldn't he remember?

Forget it.

"I'm gonna... gonna... go... go for the... the keys..." Edward paused to gasp for air, "nex' time th-they try an' go... go after me... again..."

The girl nodded. "Okay. What should I do?"

Ed sighed, biting his tongue. "I'll throw... the keys... t-to you... and you g-get... get the hell... outta here..." he paused, and added reassuringly, "I'll be r-right behind... y-you."

The girl nodded again, any reply that would have ensued caught in her throat as two of the cruel alchemists tossed a screaming, vaguely aquatic chimera into the cage across from the one she and Edward shared. Her hazel eyes grew wider as the same people unlocked the door, reaching for Edward.

The determined fire in his eyes was clear; he would not fail this time. Despite this, he shirked away from his tormentors' touch, squirming against the wall. They grabbed him by the scruff anyway, dragging him roughly across the floor. Ed jerked his head up, striking one of his captors sharply under the jaw. The man cursed and dropped him abruptly as Edward's violently trembling fingers closed around the keyring.

He staggered, ramming his elbow into another man's groin, throwing the keys through the opened cage door to the girl. She fumbled with them for a moment, nearly dropping them restrained as she was, but somehow she managed to twist her hands far enough around to unlock the manacles that kept her in place.

She stumbled forward, punching one of these people that didn't deserve to be called alchemists in the throat, these monster people, and kicking another in the shins. She was stronger than Edward at the moment, having spent far less time imprisoned, and was able to lift him gently up with the two horrible people subdued for the moment. She carried him bridal style, careful to hold his single remaining leg with minimal strain on his warped ligaments and tendons.

"G-good job," Edward commented with a weak smirk, actually managing to give a shaky thumbs-up.

The girl nodded weakly, "We need to get your automail back, so you can move again, right?"

Ed's expression turned dark. "No. We c-can't."

"Why not?"

"You'd n-need a professional autom-mail mechanic f-for that. Even i-if we f-found my automail, th-there'd be n-no way to c-connect it to my n-nerves."

"Oh." The girl closed her eyes for a moment. "Well there are certainly more of these alchemists here, and I'm sure they'll noticed that something's not right. I'll just carry you, Mister Elric."

Edward's amber eyes widened slightly, but the corners of his mouth twitched upwards in a lopsided smirk. "You're as s-stubborn as a mule about living o-on. A-about getting up and w-walking on your o-own." He paused to pant softly, gritting his teeth. "I r-respect that, admire it e-even."

The girl nodded, a sad smile creeping onto her face as she carried Edward onward, eyes pricked for more of the warped alchemists that threatened to restrain them once more. "Thank you, Mister Elric."

"N-no." Ed countered, "Thank _you_." He paused to cringe again, "And I'm s-sorry I n-never asked your n-name."

"Joan Harvey, Mister Elric. I'm sorry we couldn't have met on better terms."

"D-don't be sorry. Without y-you I'd probably be d-dead."

Joan carefully kept Ed in her arms, beginning to search for a way out as she combed the room for doorways. The building appeared to be a modified warehouse, evidently abandoned and no longer used for its original purpose.

An unlocked side door appeared to be the best option, and so they made their way to it, moving as quickly as possible to avoid detection. Edward passed out at some point as Joan frantically scrabbled for a genuine exit rather than yet another maze-like hallway to another twisted and cruel room in this immense torture chamber. Somehow, she finally stumbled upon a real exit without incident, and ran out as quickly as she could, Ed still out cold in her arms.

They were greeted by armed security guards, who escorted them back inside with a hail of bullets.

* * *

_A/N: Hey there people, I'm alive! :D Uhh I'm still getting back into things like writing and such so the quality might go down a little bit as I re-configure myself to fanfiction-ing. But uh... please review, it makes my day to see what you lot think of what I do, helps keep the creative brain juices flowin' and such. I've tried to keep Ed less "WTF kill it with fire!1!" and more "poor bby! D:" so that's good. XDD_


End file.
